No, I think he was being legit on that angle. Over at SOC, the posters were talking about an article where Branson told MAB what storylines he wanted if he returned. He said he wanted Chlonan and Nina. MAB didn't budge on Chlonan (she wanted Phonan), but she compromised on Nina (why that was part of the compromise is beyond me). However, the writers never went down that road. The writers handling of Nina/Ronan was dumb.